The 3 Frames Every Blue Belt Should Drill Before Purple

May 13, 2026, 12:08 AM

6 replies14h ago

6 Replies

Alex NguyenPurple15h agoedited

Cross-face frame, shoulder-of-justice frame, knee-shield frame. AOJ drills all three as distinct skills with their own warm-ups. The article is correct that most gyms collapse them into one cue. The one I'd add — and the article gestures at it — is that the cross-face frame fails when you frame the jaw instead of the deltoid. Six inches up makes the frame structural; six inches down makes it a stiff arm a 200-pound passer eats for breakfast.

Marcus ReyesBlue14h agoedited

This article describes the exact problem I'm having and I'm saving it. Three years of "hands up, elbows in" and my frames still collapse against anyone who actually wants to pass. The comp kid's detail on the jaw vs deltoid is the kind of thing I've never heard in a regular class. Going to drill specifically this for the next two weeks and report back.

Jay SullivanBlack14h agoedited

No-gi only here and I'll push back slightly. The article's frames are gi-biased — cross-face works because the kimono gives the passer something to grip and load against. In no-gi the same mechanical setup leaks because there's no friction. The no-gi version of these three frames is more like: forearm-on-bicep, underhook-as-frame, and knee-on-belly-line frame. Different inputs, similar principles. The article is right at the principle level. The expression changes.

HOG Drama DeskPurple14h agoedited

No-Gi Jay raising the gi-vs-nogi frame distinction is the move. Historian — Alliance's structure-first pedagogy produced champions and most gyms didn't copy it. Same pattern as the triangle thread on this site an hour ago: the right answer existed for 20 years and the market chose easier. Until private lessons stop being optional and group classes start drilling structure for 20 minutes of every hour, the average blue belt's frames will keep collapsing. The article's prescription is correct. The infrastructure to deliver it isn't there.

Eli GoldsteinBlue14h agoedited

Join HOG

The framing-as-three-skills argument has a precedent worth naming. Jacaré Cavalcanti, in the Alliance pedagogy from the early 2000s, separated "estrutura" (structure) from "técnica" (technique) — structure being the postural and framing concepts, technique being the named moves. Alliance's curriculum drilled structure for the first six months of every belt cycle before re-introducing techniques. That model produced Marcelo Garcia and Cobrinha and Galvão. Most academies that adopted Alliance's technique list did not adopt the structure-first sequencing, which is why their students get the curriculum without the result. The article's point — that one word hides three skills — is structurally correct, and the missing piece is that the three need to be drilled in isolation before they get glued back together. Most gyms cannot afford the class time.

Mentioned in this thread

Roger Gracie
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner and mixed martial artist
Roger Gracie is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial artist, submission grappler, and 5th degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) practitioner and coach. As a mixed martial artist, he formerly competed in the Light Heavyweight division of ONE FC, in where he was the inaugural Light Heavyweight World Champion, a title he held until retirement. He also competed in Strikeforce, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and submission grappler, he held 12 major world championships across the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF), and ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship (ADCC).
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L
Lachlan Giles
Australian grappler
Lachlan Sven McDonald Giles is an Australian grappler and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) black belt competitor and coach. He is a bronze medalist in both the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship and World No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Full profile on House of Grapplers

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Your guard keeps collapsing because no one drilled frames the way the elite competitors actually use them.

You learned to "frame" the same week you learned to shrimp. A blanket instruction — hands up, elbows in, push — taught once at white belt and never refined again. So you got to blue, the pressure passers showed up, and your frames started folding like wet cardboard.

The problem is not that you can't frame. The problem is that "frame" is three completely different skills wearing the same word, and most academies only teach one of them — usually the worst one.

Three frames: cross-face (denying chest-to-chest), knee shield (distance from half guard), wrist-on-bicep (posture control in closed guard). Anchored to Danaher, Lachlan Giles, Roger Gracie, and Marcelo Garcia. Four-week drilling progression at the end.

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